Monthly Archives: January 2005

Thanks for dropping by — and don’t forget, you can catch my election blogs, and one final wrap-up (plus many other diverse and extraordinary things) by visiting the Internet’s own intrepid Rough Rider, Chester. Posted by Steven Vincent

(note: you can also catch this piece on the Adventures of Chester, where I’m concluding a four-day stint as a guest blogger. Go there, and if you haven’t already, make it a daily habit, like I have.) As is the wont of things, after the euphoria comes the sobering reminder that a single success does […]

I’t’s 6:30 a.m. EDT, I’ve spent the last hour trolling the ‘net looking for Iraqi election information. It seems we’re in a lull, not suprising since one of the glories of democracy is that it’s actual process is rather dull (even, apparently, with the threat of car bombs and assassination), as opposed to mind-numbing cathedrals […]

10:20 a.m. — The polls are closed now. Nour tells me the competition in Basra is tight between the Shia’s 169 ticket and Allawi’s slate. If true, this is surprising. Although, as Nour says, many Iraqis are fearful that the Shia are too close to Iran. The religious parties have also earned much opprobrium from […]

(Note: You can also read this at Chester who has been kind enough to post my contributions along with his extensive coverage of the elections, and just about everything else) It might be the wrong finger, but Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar’s message to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is clear. Nasir Hasan once told me that on April […]

The Grand Imperial Wizard of Iraq Before we get to the good news, check out this weird Times headline: Violence Fails to Spoil a Party Atmosphere on Baghdad’s Streets What’s the point of mentioning…? Oh never mind. What do we call a reverse “Damning But?” Anyway, reporter Dexter Filkins goes on to write that the Independent Election Commission of Iraq […]

Tonight, as Saturday in North America moves toward its close, the people of Iraq–most of them, insha’allah–will be preparing to vote. It will be a long night for us, but an even longer day for them, crowded with acts of courage and violence, despair and inspiration–everything we’ve come to expect in a land that, for some […]

(Note: you can also find this piece on The Adventures of Chester, where I’m double-blogging for the next few days.) Two more days until Iraqi elections; the voting’s already begun in Australia, and, of course, the disloyal opposition isregistering their presence, as well. Meanwhile, you have to admire a people with the ability to alarm kings, sultans, […]

They are terrified lest elections prove contagious and spread to Iraq’s neighboring states and peoples. The danger to certain Arab governments, whose position has become almost identical to that of bin Laden and al-Zarqawi, is not the alleged “Shiite crescent,” or a theocratic and religious “non-Arab” government in Iraq, but the democratic “weapon of mass […]